Deeper Look: Viral Suppression

In 2019, 66% of people diagnosed with HIV in the U.S. had a suppressed viral load.

Viral suppression is when people living with HIV take HIV medication daily as prescribed and reduce the amount of HIV in their blood to a very low, or undetectable, level. People who achieve viral suppression can experience better health outcomes and have effectively no risk of sexually transmitting HIV to their partners.

People living with HIV who achieve and maintain an undetectable viral load—in the U.S. it is considered less than 200 copies/mL of HIV in the blood—by taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) daily as prescribed cannot transmit the virus to others and experience better health outcomes.

At a community level, a high rate of viral suppression indicates a lower chance of HIV transmission among members of the community. This is often referred to as the “Treatment as prevention” strategy (TasP). A high rate of viral suppression can only be achieved by diagnosing individuals and engaging them in HIV care and treatment. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analysis shows that nearly 80% of new HIV infections in the U.S. in 2016 came from the nearly 40% of people who either did not know they had HIV or who received a diagnosis but were not receiving HIV care and treatment.

The HIV Care Continuum

The HIV care continuum is a public health model that outlines the stages of care that people living with HIV go through from diagnosis to achieving and maintaining viral suppression. Guiding an individual through the care continuum is key to helping them achieve viral suppression, which not only helps them experience better health outcomes but also reduces their risk of transmitting HIV to others.

The HIV care continuum is vital in assessing individual care outcomes and population-level progress towards ending the HIV epidemic. Data on the HIV care continuum helps determine if people living with HIV in a given community are engaged in each successive step and where they may be facing barriers and falling out of care. This helps policymakers and service providers better determine where resources and strategies are needed to support people living with HIV to achieve the goal of viral suppression and live long, healthy lives.